Catholic journal criticizes dissidents who support embargo

Posted on Monday, 05.06.13

Catholic journal criticizes dissidents who support embargo
By Juan Carlos Chavez
jcchavez@elnuevoherald.com

In its latest edition, the magazine published by the Council of
Laypersons of the Archdiocese of Havana criticized members of the
opposition who advocate maintaining the economic sanctions against Cuba
to accelerate democratic changes and guarantee individual freedom.

"Some people, both Cuban and foreigners, insist in asking important
world centers of power to destabilize the Cuban government," the
publication Espacio Laical (Layperson Space) says in its editorial.
"Cuba has a lot to change, but the protagonists of those changes cannot
be the centers of power in certain strong and influential countries."

The publication, headed by Cardinal Jaime Ortega Alamino, asks the
centers of power to act "as friends who accompany us and not as judges
who condemn us." It also demands the government to exercise "a political
evolution capable of expanding the opening process" and avoid "rigidities."

It is not the first time that Espacio Laical has generated controversy.
A year ago, it said that neither dissidents nor exiles have "clear and
universal" projects for the nation's future. It added that some
(activists and dissidents) are following "agendas dictated from abroad."

Such criticism coincides with presentations that some opponents have
made in international tours through Europe and the United States.

The list of activists who have left Cuba temporarily includes blogger
Yoani Sánchez and Antonio Rodiles, director of the State of SATS (an art
exhibit). Also, the spokeswoman of the Ladies in White, Berta Soler; the
director of the Cuban Commission of Human Rights and National
Reconciliation, Elizardo Sánchez; and Rosa María Payá, daughter of the
late opposition leader Oswaldo Payá, founder of the Christian Liberation
Movement, among others.

Soler asked recently to maintain the U.S. embargo against Cuba and to
limit travel to the island until Raúl Castro's government show respect
for human rights. Soler also rejected Castro's economic reforms and
qualified them as "cosmetic."

Meanwhile, Rodiles said that this was the worst time "to lift the
embargo." And added that the disastrous state of the economy is forcing
Castro to order "minuscule" changes in the economic system.

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/05/06/3383763/catholic-journal-criticizes-dissidents.html